


Why We're Still Here

by VanillaMostly



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-22
Updated: 2013-08-22
Packaged: 2017-12-24 07:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/936836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaMostly/pseuds/VanillaMostly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So how did you and Annie happen, anyway?" Johanna and Finnick share a conversation on a rooftop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why We're Still Here

"So how did you and Annie happen, anyway?"

They were lying on the rooftop of some mansion. Johanna had already forgotten which Capitol heiress was hosting this party. Chandelier or some weird name like that. Finnick knew the place well. He didn't say, but it was obvious the mistress used to be his client. He got them onto the rooftop a few hours into the evening, when the important people were sufficiently too drunk and high to notice. 

 _No bugs?_ Johanna has asked as he lent his arm and hoisted her up.

 _Nope. Safe enough to have sex on,_ he'd replied with that wolfish grin of his, to which Johanna rolled her eyes. She was way past gaining immunity to the Finnick Effect.

"Didn't know you were the romantic sort, Jo," Finnick teased.

Johanna punched him. "I'm not. But you are. Completely whipped, may I add."

"Ouch," he said, but he still had that dopey look on. Yuck.

But Johanna found herself smiling- and not the sarcastic kind, one she actually meant- something she has only let four people see in her life. Her mom, dad, brother, and Finnick. "Answer the damn question, Odair. How'd she steal your heart?"

She supposed she was curious because even a jaded bitch like her wanted proof that true love still existed in this world.

What Finnick had with his Annie looked to be as close as it could get.

He took a while to answer. Johanna was beginning to think he had fallen asleep.

"We were on the same training team."

Ah. So it was before he was her mentor. "Careers train together?"

Finnick, come to think of it, hadn't mentioned anything about his path to a Career until now. He talked about Mags, he talked about Annie, he talked about stupid things like how much he disliked peanuts and how bad his feet smelled. When he talked about his home he described the beaches and ocean and how it feels to float in the water on your back, but didn't go further than that. Johanna realized she knew nothing about his life pre-Games, when it had been normal. 

She suddenly wondered if there was a reason he didn't talk about it. Like he never talked about his life now as a pleasure slave. Like Johanna never talked about what happened to her family. Like neither of them talked about the dreams that haunted at night. Like neither of them talked, seriously, about doing something to end all this.

"If you don't want to..." She began.

But he was already talking, his eyes on the night sky, the empty champagne glass sitting on his chest.

"Yeah. Our district had teams. Coaches. They didn't call it Career training but everyone knew what they were. Crazy expensive to sign up, of course. Unless your kid has special talent. Then they scout you and give you scholarships."

"Like you?"

He smiled sideways at her, a touch sheepishly.

Johanna laughed. "Aren't you a hotshot." She tucked one arm under her head, raising herself up to face him. He copied the gesture. "You grew up with her then? Childhood lovers, were ya?"

The Capitol would dig that. If they could get over that their golden loverboy was in a long-term committed relationship.

That might be too much for those little heads to handle.

But Finnick shook his head. "No, I wasn't scouted until I was ten. And she was still in another age group then." He grinned, but it wasn't a grin meant for Johanna. "I couldn't have dated her anyway. She was totally off-limits."

"Oh? Enlighten me on your private joke, Odair."

"She was my coach's daughter," he explained.

Johanna raised her eyebrow. "Wow. How did any of this manage to stay under the radar? It's like a fucking Capitol soap opera come true."

His grin faltered off. "Snow has ways."

Johanna wished someone could sew shut her big, fat mouth. "Sorry. Didn't..."

"You didn't know," he shrugged. "It's okay. Annie... She thinks it was really an accident. She says they're with the mermaids now." He looked away. "She says they visit her from time to time."

Johanna squeezed his hand.

"Where was I again?" he said lightly.

"You, a horny ten-year-old."

He elbowed her. "Hey. Contrary to what the size of my manhood indicates, I didn't mature that fast."

She made a face. "Alright, are you finishing this story or not?"

"I will if someone quits interrupting."

She kicked him and he just laughed, shimmying his side away to avoid it. "Fine, fine. I'll get to it, sheesh."

He rolled over again, smiling his faraway smile.

"I was one of the older newbies. Usually kids join these teams as soon as they can walk. Younger you start, more you'll learn, they say. But it's just so they can catch kids before they realize what killing means."

Johanna made a noise of disgust. Finnick chuckled. "You're a real softie, Jo, deep down, aren't you?"

"Shut up. Continue."

"Yes, ma'am." He shifted to get more comfortable. "Well, you can imagine. When I just got started I was this scrawny shrimp. No one could figure why the coach was wasting his time and money on me. Most of his students my age have been with him for years."

"They bullied you?"

"You bet," he said cheerfully. "I didn't care, though. They just made me more determined to stay."

Johanna could see that: before Finnick was cocky, he was downright stubborn. But something he said didn't sit well with her. "Wait. Why DID you even join? It couldn't have been your dream to run into a dog-fighting ring?"

He looked at her, evidently amused. "You aren't from a Career district. You don't know how it's like. It's an honor, there. Like winning first in school sports, times a hundred."

Johanna tried to wrap her mind around this, that the Games weren't a nightmare for some people. That it was like a real, wonderful game to them.

She still didn't get it, but Finnick had a point. She hadn't grown up there.

"But..." She frowned. "None of you, like, ever had a doubt or anything? None of you felt sick watching kids off each other?"

Finnick paused. "If anyone did, they kept quiet."

She narrowed her eyes. "Did you?"

"I didn't want to be called a coward," he admitted.

"You mean you were too cowardly to be a coward. How ironic."

He laughed.

"What?"

"You remind me of Annie."

"Don't tell me you're falling for me, now." Johanna tugged at her bangs. She needed a haircut again. "Let me guess. Annie had more guts than you did?"

"Remember I said they bullied me? She was one of them."

"No way."

He grinned. "Yes way."

Johanna whistled. "Go Annie."

"Ha, ha. Funny." 

"Not love at first sight, then?"

He snorted. "We hated each other."

"That changed," stated Johanna, watching Finnick's pretty eyes go soft.

"I guess it did," he said quietly.

Johanna thought about that. How strange things can work out sometimes. She hadn't liked Finnick at first, either. But now he was the closest person she had left on this planet. He wasn't her brother back from the dead, she'd long accepted that, but she was glad to have him all the same.

Great. She really was turning into a sap.

"Well, thanks," she said, after a while. "That was a good story."

"For you, my lady, always."

But Johanna wasn't in the mood for his jokes. The full extent of what she had said had just struck her.

A good story. Without a happy ending.

Except the story's not over yet.

"There has to be a way," she said firmly. "If we can find something... to hold over Snow-"                         

His laugh was hollow. Johanna did not like it, coming from Finnick. Bitter laughs were her thing.

"You don't think I tried?" he asked.

"You..."

His lips twisted. "Yes. I got Annie's reaping to show for it."

Johanna let that sink in. She honestly couldn't believe she had the capacity to be surprised anymore.

"But you won't always be this young and handsome," she tried again, not knowing why she cared so much. (Sap.) "Someone new's bound to pop up, one of these days, and they'll give you right up..."

The look he gave her was too sad, too knowing. She hated it.

"Maybe," he said, for her benefit.

She gritted her teeth. "Maybe."

She decided that in fact, she didn't envy Finnick and Annie after all. Yes, they had their true love, but all it brought them was heartache and pain. And something for Snow to use. It was probably better to not have anyone. Johanna shouldn't even have Finnick, but- too late for that now.

Johanna reached for her champagne glass, forgetting that it was also empty. "Shit."

"Want to go down for more?" Finnick offered, ready to rise.

She held out her hand. "Nah. Let's stay."

So they stayed, lying side by side, looking up at the stars. The breeze felt nice on their foreheads. Below they could hear the distant laughter and music. But all of that felt far away.

**

"Do you ever wonder why we're here, Finnick?"

"You mean why we're still here, Jo?"

The rustle of leaves carried their questions.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> District 4 was a Career district, no? I haven't seen many fics explore a Career's childhood yet. I'm pretty intrigued by what it might have been like!  
> I can't help it - I love "rivals to lovers" romances. xD so that's my interpretation of how Annie and Finnick's love started.


End file.
